Gold resumes rising momentum

Price of gold in Vietnam rose to VND43.9 million a tael (1.2 ounces) on January 17 as global price recovered strongly.

Sacombank Jewelry Company bought gold at VND43.55 million and sold at VND43.85 million as of 11am Vietnamese time.

Saigon Jewelry Company, the biggest gold processor and trader in Vietnam, collected gold at VND43.55 million and sold at VND43.85 million as of 11:04am Vietnamese time.

Hanoi-based Phu Quy Jewelry Company purchased SJC-brand gold at VND43.65 million and sold at VND43.9 million as of 11:24am Vietnamese time.

Meanwhile, Bao Tin Minh Chau Jewelry Company quoted the price at VND42.5 million for buying, and VND42.8 million for selling at 12:36pm Vietnamese time.

The precious metal gained VND350,000 a tael over the previous day.

Domestically, gold fetched around VND1.8 million a tael, higher than global price.

On free market this morning, dollars were bought at VND21,000, and sold at VND21,040, a decrease of VND20 per dollar over the previous day.

Internationally, gold rebounded sharply after statistics showed that China gross domestic product growth was 8.9 percent in the last quarter, beating a forecast of 8.7 percent. However, it was the slowest growth in two and a half years.

Gold for immediate delivery rose as much as $3.1 an ounce to close at $1,643.8 an ounce on the Comex in New York.

In Asia, the metal jumped strongly at the trading session this morning. Spot gold surged $14.2 an ounce to trade at $1,658 an ounce at 10:50am Vietnamese time.

The euro exchange rate against the US dollar was above $1.27 a euro in Tokyo this morning. Yesterday, the share currency sank to the lowest level in 17 months after Standard & Poor’s downgraded credit ratings of nine countries in the eurozone last Friday.

Bullion is expected to remain under depreciation pressure generated by the European sovereign-debt crisis and a stronger US dollar. Besides, physical gold purchases from China are slowing down ahead of the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday, starting next Monday.

Most view

In the past few years, investment wave from Japan into Vietnam has ceaselessly increased in both number of enterprises and capital volume with roughly 1,800 Japanese enterprises and total investment of US$9.5 billion across the country by the end of 2018, of which nearly 1,000 Japanese enterprises are in Ho Chi Minh City.

Commercial banks have to adjust the limit of cash withdrawals in foreign currency abroad to the maximum equivalent of VND30 million (US$1,280) per day for international credit and debit cards from early this year to meet a central bank regulation.